GET YOUR PATIENCE ON!

Two things have been fantastic endorphin boosts for me lately!

1-I got the greeter at our nearby grocery, whose smile easily fits into the "very-rarely-if-ever" category, not just to smile, but also to laugh!

2-I thanked a complete stranger for serving in the military. He was 80 or better, wearing his military hat and walking slowly, so I had plenty of time to talk myself into it. I felt so glad I spoke after seeing the huge smile and hearing his sincere "You're very welcome."

I felt sky high after both of those interactions. The point was to make them feel good, but I got a huge boost, too. That got my mind spinning.

If I feel good by doing simple acts of goodness/kindness/patience toward others, can I make that my holiday project?

. . . Intentionally allow someone my parking spot even though I got there first?

. . . Show patience to the new check-out clerk calling for a third price check?

. . . Stop myself from yelling at someone just to let off some of my own steam?

Of course I can! But there's a problem. If I get my patience on but keep it to myself, I am limited to my own ideas and experiences.

On the other hand, if I encourage you to join me in getting your patience on, simply being nice, keeping it cool, and other forms of holiday stress relief, then you can share what you have done, and we can all be challenged and encouraged!

So do it. Post a comment below*! Tell something simple you plan to do or have recently done to make the world a happier place this season. Don't forget to tell how it made you feel. Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men! You're probably already nice (at least most of the time!) so just add some intentionality this time of year!

P.S. By all means, do use this as an opportunity to brag it up when you GET YOUR PATIENCE ON. Humility-Shmumility. Tell it like it was so that other people can be challenged to follow your lead!

*By the way, you don't have to create an account to respond. Just post anonymously and then sign your name in the text if you'd rather.

Life's Important Moments, brought to you by TXT

Last week I got punked. Bad. I texted someone in our youth group to find out how her dad, who was possibly headed to the ER for appendicitis, was doing. She texted me back that it was bad and he actually died.

Fast forwarding through a LOT of details in between, (or as Scott Floyd would say, "More baby, less labor"), I was standing in their family's living room before we figured out that I had been texting someone else—a complete stranger whose cell number just happened to be 1 digit different from my REV kid. And who just happened to say the right things at the right times in order to sound pretty stinkin' believable and make me one gigantic sucker! Yikes. Turns out the dad had kidney stones, which is absolutely awful. But in comparison with what I had thought, I was quite relieved.

Having just been through that, I have since been thinking about how important some things are to actually hear with your own ears. So here are some of life's more significant moments, and what they would be like if they were texted instead of spoken:

Taylor + Brielle = TLA

Taylor: Think I'm gunna ax BreL 2 marry me 2nite.

Kevin: Taylor are you honestly texting me to ask for my daughter's hand in marriage?

Taylor: Yep, sry, im super busy 2day n ddnt have time 2 call.

{few minutes pass}

Taylor: Um, sir? U never answerd.

{few minutes pass}

Kevin: Do you love Brielle? Can you support her? Do you even have a job?

Taylor: Yes yes yes

{few minutes pass}

Kevin: K

The texting of the Preamble to the Constitution

TJ: "We the ppl..."

Jesus' words of wisdom:

Jesus: "Evry1 will know u follow me if u love 1 another."

James: "ikr"

John: "True. Ur the best BFF ever!"

Peter: "OMG thats awesome man. Tysm."

Judas: "Psh, whatevs."

Top Ten Things I'm looking forward at the Fall Revolution Retreat

10 - Plenty of of "I love you man"'s and lots of huggin' it out

9 - A ton of "I never knew that about you!"'s

8 - Pushing Michael B's accent talent to its limits. I know he can do Scottish, Irish, Russian, and Spanish. I want to see if he can do Polite Pirate, Swahili Neck Stretcher, German lost in Australia, and/or a Hip Hop Grandma.

7 - Busting up EVERY SINGLE "pa-duh" (or at least, that's what they called it on the PSA against PDA's that was so funny a few Wednesdays ago) ....Not only busting them up AS we catch them, but even BEFORE they have even begun! LOL!!!!

6 - Something super messy, gooey or sticky. Something to do with Messy Spirituality. ...but nothing that would stain our new REV hoodies, of course.

5 - Something that makes EVERYONE laugh, SOME people snort, and maybe even ONE poor kid pee their pants.

4 - Having to go into the nearest town for a toothbrush run after discovering that every single MS boy forgot to bring one. (NOT!!!!)

3 - Delicious Pancakes, Sammies and Spaghetti made by our AWESOME moms!

2 - Seeing how many girls and guys bring their stuffedy's along. (Don't be ashamed! I'm bringing a teddybear!!!)

1 - NOT passing out any bandaids for razor cuts ... because ... THIS IS NO SHAVE NOVEMBER!!!!

Halloween: Schedule & Photos

A Brief Run-down of the Night's Events...

6pm - Costumes & Cameras

6:15 - Knock on Neighborhood doors

8:00 - Desperate Displays of the Overwhelmed at Grandma's house.

8:30 - Back home. Yes, you may have a few pieces. Just a FEW. Oh all right, 6 is a few.

8:36 - Festival of Red no. 5 Rockets and Chocolate Insulin-ators. Yes, 6 has been reached. And re-reached. Several times by now.

8:40 - Exhaustion and insulin shock are peaking concurrently. Put away the camera. There are no more good pictures to be had tonight.

9:00 - A battle some children know as The Sheets of Death; some call Mortal Combat vs. Mattress Man, we parents just call it Bedtime.

2am - Grope through the dark to find all clocks in the house and change them back an hour. (Just kidding. It's one kind of stupid to let the kids eat Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs on Halloween Night, it's another to set the clocks at the exact time Daylight Saving occurs.)

6am OR 7am - (depending on GMT or Body) Wake up for church. Google "cure" "child" "sugar hangover."

. . . It's OK to give the kids Reeces Pieces for breakfast, provided you serve them in a bowl, pour milk over it, and eat it with a spoon. Right?

Some pictures from 2008...

Our Pumpkins last year. One had eyelashes. One had eyebrows...sort of.

T-shirts inspired by Family Fun magazine.

Pizzas (both above) inspired by my imagination,

shaping crust (or cutting pre-made) into pumpkin shape

and using large pepperoni for the pumpkin faces.

Trick-or-treating is a neighborhood tradition on our street.

In this photo:

Cindi Lauper, a stray kitty, a flower pot, two Star Wars guys.

Why I love youth ministry

There are so many different ways to take this entry. I have pondered several.

• Make a humorous Top 10 list of the best things about youth ministry.
• Do it like a PSA - reasons you should volunteer your time and abilities to today's youth.
• Tell a story or several stories about why I love it.

I finally decided just to go "unplugged." No stylizing words in order to make it funny; no recruitment efforts. Just several of the reasons I personally benefit from and love youth ministry. If it makes you want to get involved at your own church, awesome! If not, just enjoy this little entry about something that means a great deal to the meaningfulness of my life.

Why I love youth ministry

1. It's a whole new group of people to love and befriend! Many of my friendships with the students' parents have been strengthened, and many of my friendships with them already had a foundation based on knowing others in their family.
2. It's a different people group to worship and be in community with. I value friendships with fellow adult/married/mom friends. But serving with youth adds a variety and a joy in relationships that would be seriously unachievable without these amazing people.
3. Being part of their service with the loud music and the freedom to worship freely—nobody cares if their friends are standing still, dancing, hands up, or bowed in reverence. Being part of their worship has actually opened my heart up to God in ways I haven't experienced before, and grown me in my own spirit.
4. It's a great chance for my own kids to depend on someone else for their night-night routine—their daddy! And that makes them enjoy their special nights with Daddy only, and oddly enough, appreciate the other 6 nights when I'm around for them.
5. The students' stories are great, their questions are genuine, their motives aren't complicated, and their ideas often challenge me to look at things from a different angle.
6. They make me laugh SO MUCH! I go to sleep smiling on Wednesday nights, and I spend all Sunday afternoon smiling because of them. I've joked that REVOLUTION is my anti-drug, but seriously, it's true. It's a great feeling that lasts all week.
7. Watching them grow together brings me a sense of pride. Watching them grow spiritually brings me to tears. Watching them grow up, deal with zits, develop muscles, hit some fantastic voice cracks, wear eyeshadow for the first time...brings me so many indescribable feelings.
8. I benefit from hearing an extra sermon and having an extra worship service each week.
9. They need me. Might sound arrogant, but it's not. They need another adult to care about them, believe in them, pray them through the heavy blows some of them unfortunately experience. Whether it's just adding to the support they already get from home, or supplementing what they don't get anywhere else, they need safe supportive adults. Many adults expect teens to be making babies, overdosing on drugs, stuff like that. Not me. Not the other adults who serve. We know they've got plenty of opportunities to make mistakes. And we help them if they do. But we expect a higher standard of life choices. A better way of living. It's hard for a teen to fail an influential adult's positive or negative expectation of them. They need my expectations to be better and louder than the negative ones other adults might be acting on.
10. When was the last time you got a loud, screaming, jumping-up-and-down hug that sounded something like "Wow! I've missed you! It's great to see you!!!"
11. Even if nothing is going right in my life, I can think of a handful of positive things that God is doing in their lives, and it strengthens my faith. And when they're low, God seems to work it out so that my life stories strengthen their faith, too!

Secrets hidden deep in your heart

You might not even know some of the deepest feelings hiding inside your heart until they come out of your mouth. (Proverbs 23:7a) Watch, then, what you say. Not as a guard watches for escapees; but as a detective watches for clues. Not settled in your spirit? Then have a listen to yourself. Are the words you speak feelings that are working their way to the surface? As they come up, don't be afraid to address each of them, even the ugly ones, speaking truth in love, and praying for the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16).

I am, evidently, the Marilyn Monroe of Walgreens

I am stuck at home in bed today with a fever and chills

. . . and my MacBook. So I've been doing a little work from home, looking up knitting patterns for Christmas gifts, and basically just needing a big laugh.

Needing to laugh made me think about something that happened two years ago and went in my previous blog. It's time for a repost and a good chuckle.

Monday, September 24, 2007

i am, evidently, the marilyn monroe of walgreens

oh yes, i am, evidently, the marilyn monroe of walgreens. you know the famous marilyn footage where the wind blows up her skirt? yeah, that's pretty much what happened as we were exiting the building. only i wasn't wearing the sexy halter dress, i was wearing a gauze broomskirt....

and you know how marilyn monroe wasn't pushing a shopping cart and didn't have two kids with her? well, i did....

and you know how there were those cameras filming marilyn? well, i'm sure the surveillance footage there at walgreens will be worth at least a few chuckles......

with my hands not free to push the cart AND keep my skirt down, all I could possibly do was say, "c'mon kids! LET'S RUN!"

when we got in the car, the kids and i, we were all still laughing, and they said, "oh, mommy, we need to thank JESUS for that funny joke he did for us. that was HILARIOUS, mom!"

so, thank you, jesus.... (NOT!)

and you're welcome, walgreens.....

and ALL the people driving at 2nd & Santa Fe, for that matter.